In what would be a culmination of their efforts to try and be a strong presence in music as well as video, Google-owned sharing website YouTube have been busy promoting their first-ever annual ‘YouTube Music Awards’, an event which will add to the awards calendar in the music industry and serve as a competitor to the likes of MTV and their annual show.

The ceremony was first announced a month ago, with claims that across 6 categories (within which nominees are chosen by data from YouTube users, who will vote for the winner via video link sharing), the 90-minute stream will also look to draw in live and repeat viewers through guest performers including Lady Gaga, Eminem, Arcade Fire, performing with and alongside a number of more quirky acts which have found fame solely through the website, appearing at Pier 36 in New York City (USA).

Airing on 3 November, the show will include lead-in content of ‘hours’ worth of music and videos, including ‘pre-recorded performances’ filmed in Seoul (South Korea), Moscow (Russia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and London (England).

YouTube spokeswoman Chelsea Maughan said to Mashable of the website’s intentions for the show: “Music is a huge part of what YouTube is and what YouTube has become to music fans around the world. The YouTube Music Awards represent the next step in terms of celebrating how big music is on YouTube. The YouTube Music Awards represent the next step in terms of celebrating how big music is on YouTube.”

Behind-the-scenes, the show will take on a big-name appeal in production, with the companies hired for the job being Sunset Lane Entertainment and Vice, whilst filmmaker Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) will be the creative director of the show. Jonze summarised at the time of the announcement: “We’re setting out to create a night that’s all about making things and creativity in the spirit of everyone that uses YouTube. As well as giving out awards, we’ll be making live music videos. The whole night should feel like a YouTube video itself.”

With plans to demonstrate how critical their site has been to the music industry over the years, will YouTube soon have the most important accolade in the market, or will their latest ‘themed show’ fall into the background? The nominations of the 6 categories can be seen below, after the break of videos including the nominees for the biggest prize (‘Artist of the year’), instructions on how to vote, and the ‘odd one out’ of the 10 perhaps bringing a bit more attention to the non-primarily non-YouTube company they are mixed in with:

Video of the Year: Honoring the world’s most loved music videos, these nominees represent the videos with the most fan engagement on YouTube over the last year.

Demi Lovato – Heart Attack

Epic Rap Battles of History – Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney

Girls’ Generation – I Got A Boy

Justin Bieber (feat. Nicki Minaj) – Beauty And A Beat

Lady Gaga – Applause

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Mary Lambert) – Same Love

Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop

One Direction – Best Song Ever

PSY – Gentleman

Selena Gomez – Come & Get It

Artist of the Year: Honoring the acts YouTube fans have made stars, nominees represent the most watched, shared, liked, and subscribed-to artists on YouTube.

Eminem

Epic Rap Battles of History

Justin Bieber

Katy Perry

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Nicki Minaj

One Direction

PSY

Rihanna

Taylor Swift

Response of the Year: Honoring the best fan remix, parody or response video, these nominees represent the top “unofficial” fan videos on YouTube based on your views, shares and other activity.

Boyce Avenue (feat. Fifth Harmony) – Mirrors

Jayesslee – Gangnam Style

Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix – Radioactive

ThePianoGuys – Titanium / Pavane

Walk Off the Earth (feat. KRNFX) – I Knew You Were Trouble

YouTube Phenomenon: Recognizing the YouTube trends the world could not escape from, nominees are based on the phenomena that generated the most fan videos.

Diamonds

Gangnam Style

Harlem Shake

I Knew You Were Trouble

Thrift Shop

YouTube Breakthrough: Honoring the music world’s breakout new acts, nominees represent the artists who experienced the biggest growth in views and subscribers.

Kendrick Lamar

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Naughty Boy

Passenger

Rudimental

Innovation of the Year: Starting with videos selected by an international panel of musicians, YouTubers and creative luminaries, we then selected the creative video innovations that resonated most with fans on YouTube, based on views, likes, shares and comments.

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[…] no-one entirely sure what to expect from the unique new voting process of an entirely new show, YouTube’s first annual ‘Music Awards’ last night declared their inaugural 6 winners, headlined by an act who was also a guest performer […]